The New Generation: Legends
by MaverickBuff
Summary: All out war has broken out between various villages, and Hiroshi becomes a major player in the upcoming conflict. Having being broken by his stint in under the Steel village, will he regain what he has lost before the flames of conflict destroys everything he holds dear? Final part of The New Generation series.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Dark Tides**

" How far are we from the border, Yoshihiko?" a young kunoichi asked.

" What? Were you expecting me to keep track? We just escaped from all that crap. I can't even confirm that we are escaping in the correct direction," Yoshihiko answered.

" What the fuck did you say!?" the kunoichi replied.

" Both of you, shut up!" their third member exclaimed.

" But…"

" We are moving in the correct direction, Saya. If we were not, it would be pointless to do so. It would be painfully obvious that we are very far from the border, so don't bother asking. I need the both of you idiots to stay calm and stop freaking out every 5 minutes," the third member replied. " You all may just be genins, but have some level of pride as a shinobi."

" Haruto, you are also a genin," Saya replied.

" Well, a better genin than both you morons," Haruto replied, smirking slightly. Yoshihiko and Saya looked at each other for a second, not before breaking out into small fits of laughter.

The three of them were moving through a thick forest in a foreign country, jumping from the branch of one tree to the next. Several sections of the forest had been clearly destroyed from previous shinobi fights, some areas of the forest burnt and charred, a reminder of the war that was currently going on right now.

As the two small villages, the Void and Light village, started to aggressively expand around their borders, the Leaf village decided to take preemptive action, since their actions were affecting their neighbouring countries. 2 months ago, the Leaf declared war against the two villages, and intense fighting began in earnest. While not directly affected, the Sand village also joined the war with their allies the Leaf, and now the 4 villages were embroiled in conflict.

The three genins were on an espionage mission, and having completed it, they were doing their best to return back to base. However, their infiltration mission was detected, and their pursuers were hot on their trail. They had been successful in shaking off their pursuers, but their enemies were constantly on their tail, and for good reason. The information they had managed to gleam from their enemies could lead to a major victory, but if they didn't return this information in time back to their forces, it could spell disaster.

" Haruto!" Yoshihiko exclaimed.

Haruto was already aware of what was happening. A lone Void shinobi had already caught up to them, and Haruto could barely catch his outline as he ran alongside them on their right. He was probably a scout, and a fast one at that. Haruto casually reached for his shinobi blade which his kept behind his back, knowing that a fight was unavoidable.

" You two know what to do," Haruto replied. Yoshihiko and Saya both nodded their heads, although they still looked nervous. " Split!"

He shouted loud enough for the enemy shinobi to hear, and the moment he did that, all three of them split into different directions. Saya, however, kept with her usual path, and the enemy shinobi sensed this, figuring no doubt she was the one holding the information they had stolen, and instantly made the decision to chase after her.

The moment he did so, there was a flash of light, and all of a sudden, a large fireball was fired in his direction. It lacked any power or speed, so the shinobi managed to dodge it effortlessly, jumping aside to avoid the shot. Yoshihiko fired another fireball, which the shinobi effortlessly avoided, probably figuring these bunch of shinobis were mere genins or ameteurs.

" Hmph, is that the best you can do?" he taunted Yoshihiko.

Out of nowhere, Haruto instantly landed on his back, his hand slamming down onto the back of the shinobis neck, the shinobi blade in his hand instantly piercing the person's neck. Pulling the blade out, Haruto kicked the body aside, which then began to fall to the ground below, ending with a sickening crack. His corpse was strewn on the floor, his head bent at a strange angle, as Haruto had kicked him at such an angle to make sure his head struck the ground first, as if a blade through his spinal cord was not enough to kill him.

" Unfortunately, that is our best. Sorry to disappoint," Haruto replied coldly. He wiped his weapon quickly, not before tossing both the cloth and blade aside. The blood and smell might make tracking easier, so he had to get rid of it. He had also previously made sure when he landed his attack that none of his target's blood splattered onto him. This might buy them mere seconds, but every single action counted when the distance between their enemies and them could be counted by the seconds. " This guy is basically a scout. The rest of them will be coming onto us soon. Move out, now!"

All of them continued on in their previous direction, moving quickly. Things were silent for a while, but after several minutes, Haruto could sense their pursuers moving with alarming alacrity towards them.

" They are catching up," Yoshihiko exclaimed, sounding a little terrified.

Haruto considered their options. At this point, they could split up and go their separate ways, and hopefully they can confuse and divert their attention enough, although they have no guarantee that they won't be found out. Another option would be to slow them down by forcefully engaging them. Saya will most likely run into enemy forces since they are still very far away from the border, but there are almost no more options left for them.

"Yoshihiko, prepare your ninjutsu. We need to delay them as long as possible," Haruto replied.

" What? You two are going to leave me alone?" Saya exclaimed.

" Whatever we managed to steal from them seems to be valuable enough for them to deploy an entire battalion of shinobis to get it back. Whatever it is, it is worth it, and we need to get it back where it will be put to good use," Haruto exclaimed, pulling out another shinobi blade from his back. " No arguments. Yoshihiko and I will…"

Haruto stopped short when he realized that he wasn't alone, and all three of them halted right in their tracks. Right in front of them, standing in plain sight was a shinobi who was wearing an extremely thick coat, almost as if the shinobi was trying to conceal his or her body. A hood was pulled over the shinobis head, and besides wearing rather large tinted goggles, Haruto could barely make out the shinobi's facial features. The only reason he probably wasn't alarmed at this new person's presence was because he or she didn't exudate any form of hostility.

" Relax. I'm here as your backup," a young female voice replied.

The female kunoichi moved past them, not before patiently waiting. Haruto realized that she planned on engaging their pursuing forces head-on. While he would think that would be an unwise choice, this kunoichi in particular didn't seem unfazed by the idea. In fact, for some reason whatsoever, Haruto felt like the engagement was going to be a one-sided slaughter.

Within less than a minute, the pursuers have caught up to them. Haruto sensed five of them, and they were all very fast movers. A female pursuer attacked the kunoichi, who merely countered her by whistling loudly. The female enemy winced in pain not before trying to close her ears, and due to the disorientation, crashed into a tree while moving at top speed, before falling to the ground.

" Deal with her. I will deal with the rest," the female kunoichi replied.

" Saya, stay here. Yoshihiko, follow me," Haruto replied.

" But…" Saya tried to argue.

" No arguments. You are too important to risk getting hurt. Stay here, that is an order," Haruto replied sternly, not before leaping to the lower branches, with Yoshihiko slowly following him from behind.

As the moved towards ground level, Haruto spotted the female kunoichi on the ground, slowly trying to pick herself up. Haruto and Yoshihiko moved in quickly for the kill, not wanting her to recover herself. Yoshihiko formed his hand seals as fast as he could, not before breathing fire from his mouth. The kunoichi spotted his movements, and quickly backed up before the large fireball managed to hit him. Haruto quickly charged towards her, cutting her off, swinging his shinobi blade dangerously at her neck. The kunoichi quickly blocked his attack by raising her hand, meeting his strike by catching his blade between her fingers, but this was merely a feint.

Haruto flicked a senbon needle towards the kunoichi's gut, keeping his other hand low and out of sight, attacking just at the right moment so that she would not notice it. The kunoichi flinched as the senbon needle pierced her gut, and Yoshihiko landed on her head, knocking her off balance. Haruto did not miss this opportunity, shoving her hand aside and slitting her neck. There was a mix of shock and fear in the kunoichi's eyes as her crimson blood started to spill out from her wound, not before she collapsed from the loss of blood.

" It's done. Let's head back up," Haruto replied, and Yoshihiko merely nodded in agreement.

Quite a sight greeted them when they returned to the branches of the trees above them. The rest of the pursuers were dead, most having died violently which was evident from all the blood splatters that coloured the trees. The kunoichi who had arrived to help them didn't look like she had lifted a finger to attack, but their enemies were sprawled all over the place. Whoever she was, she was quite impressive. Haruto had been quick, and lucky, in dispatching the kunoichi he was asked to deal with, but this unknown kunoichi destroyed 5 others in a time much shorter than he did, quite possibly not longer than 30 seconds.

"…Wow, just wow," Yoshihiko replied, looking at the amount of carnage.

" She…she just stood there. The rest of them tore themselves apart the moment they approached her. She didn't even move a muscle at all. Who is she?" Saya asked, looking like she was somewhat terrified of this unknown kunoichi's presence.

" Only one kunoichi of the Sand, who wears tinted goggles, has this particular fighting style," Haruto replied, realizing who she was after Saya described the one-sided fight. " You must be the one they call the Crimson Medic."

The kunoichi turned around, not before pulling back her hood. As if to match her nickname, her hair was a shade of sharp vermillion, but it was obviously dyed. Her goggles were tinted blue, and now with her hood off, Haruto realized that her eyes were not visible. Her forehead protector was tied to her head, and from the looks of it, it had been snapped in half previously and fixed up again, apparently having some level of sentimental value as she was unwilling to just get a new replacement. She smiled slightly, and Haruto was instantly reminded of an older sister trying to comfort her younger siblings.

" That's right. I'm the Crimson Medic, Nagato Suzumi at your service," Suzumi replied.

 _Author's notes: It's been years since I last updated. I may never finish most of my stories, but this one has been one of my more heavily invested stories, and when I started I didn't imagine the the manga would complete by the time I was done. It would be nice to give this some closure, even if I barely have any time with work/life constraints._


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Reuniting the Gang**

Suzumi watched in amazement as the kunoichi named Saya started to draw out a complex map, filled with random numbers and symbols she could not recognise on a large sheet of paper. Her hand was moving so fast it looked like she was printing out a copy of a map. Suzumi could see at a glance that it was a map of the general area, the section between the borders of both countries. Once the map was drawn in full detail, she passed the map to Suzumi.

" We were doing a bit of recon and espionage within enemy territory. We came upon this map in one of their camps. We had no idea what it contained, but it was apparently important. I had Saya memorize the map to have a copy, and we left. They sort of caught wind, and they have been chasing us for almost 2 days now," Haruto replied.

" Memorize?" Suzumi asked.

" I have photogenic memory. I can instantly recognise and draw out anything I see, be it images or sights," Saya answered.

" That's useful," Suzumi replied, not before tuning into her subconscious. " Aya, what do you make of this?"

Her split personality, Aya, surfaced. " What now? Looks like a lousy map to me," Aya replied, sounding sleepy, as if she just woke up from a long nap.

Living with another personality sharing the same body was rather difficult at first, but Suzumi had gotten used to it. The incident 5 years ago had awoken her hereditary gifts, but she had asked the Kazekage to keep quiet about it. Her bloodline ability was used for violent and war-mongering purposes, so the less people who know about it, the better. Only a select few friends of hers and a few higher ups are in possession of the knowledge of her abilities.

Staying with Aya did have its perks. Having a dual personality, and the ability to meld both personalities into one body, has managed to grant Suzumi an extreme edge when it comes to combat. Her genjutsu capabilities have risen to such heights that almost anyone without a strong ability to negate genjutsu will instantly fall before her. Even discounting her genjutsu abilities, having Aya around basically doubles her sensory output, sharpening and honing her combat senses beyond what she could normally imagine, and Aya was no slouch when it came in the combat department, especially her ruthlessness.

" The scouts that chased them were no slouches. Whatever information this map has probably contain vital information, vital enough that they would risk their lives against me," Suzumi replied. It was sometimes awkward when she was discussing things with people, then she had to converse with Aya in her head, as if she was talking to an imaginary friend.

" Chances this might be false?" Aya asked, yawning loudly in her head.

" Sacrificing their lives to trick us to plant false information. Possible, but I don't buy it. Besides, I did a quick check on one of them. From what I could read off his mind, I don't think its false information. These guys are desperate to not let this map fall into our hands," Suzumi argued.

" Well, I think…hang on a second," Aya replied, sounding as if she suddenly realized something. " Did you just kill a bunch of shinobis?"

" Well, if you did notice, I was talking about 'a bunch of scouts'," Suzumi replied.

" You killed a bunch of people and you did not wake me up for the massacre?" Aya exclaimed, sounding very annoyed.

" I thought you were tired, and I felt like I could handle it on my own," Suzumi answered.

" …You said the information on this map is genuine, right?" Aya asked.

" Yes, I believe so."

" Good, this means more meatbags will be heading in our direction. I cannot wait," Aya replied. Suzumi could almost imagine her salivating in anticipation.

" Well, I cannot analyse this map. We need someone who can break codes, so our best course of action is to head back to the nearest base camp with the hope that someone can decipher what is written here. I'll escort all three of you back," Suzumi replied, rolling up the map and keeping it. She noticed Saya and Yoshihiko looked very relieved. " I am surprised that the three of you Grass genins somehow managed to make your way deep inside enemy territory."

" Our team specializes in infiltration. While we may not boast any combat ability, as long as we can move in undetected, we will be fine, although in our case if we get caught, it would mean utter annihilation," Haruto replied. " Besides, I'm not your average run-in-the-mill genin."

" I know. You must be Kira's protégé," Suzumi answered.

Haruto looked surprised. " You know my sensei?" he asked.

" Yes, we worked together once before. He told me about you. Your stance is similar to his, except perhaps you talk much more than he does," Suzumi replied, smiling slightly.

" You mean the incident with Lady Kagura?" Saya asked.

" Yes, that's the one," Suzumi replied. " Anyway, let's not waste any time lingering here. Any pleasantries can be shared while we travel."

" She's late," Hibiki noted.

" I'm not worried," Makoto replied.

" …I'm also not worried. I'm just saying," Hibiki snapped back.

" Then stop annoying me," Makoto replied, sighing.

" Just thinking out loud, man. I mean, she was supposed to be here like 10 minutes ago. What would even delay her?" Hibiki asked.

" Maybe she had something important to take care of," Makoto answered.

" Like?"

" You are annoying me, you know that," Makoto replied, scowling slightly.

" Alright, alright…" Hibiki replied, lifting his hands upwards, indicating that he wasn't going to press the issue any longer, but just as he did that, both of them noticed a dung beetle that was almost 10 times its normal size emerge from the ground, digging itself out. It quickly hopped onto Hibiki's shoulders, not before cleaning its head from dirt. " Oh hey, it's Kabuto!"

" Stop calling me that, that is such a silly nickname," the dung beetle replied.

" Ignore this idiot, Takase. What is it?" Makoto replied.

" Suzumi needs to escort a group of three Grass genins to the nearest outpost base we have. She requests that you meet her at these coordinates," Takase replied, taking out a small roll of paper he had kept under his belly. " She wants you to move out ASAP."

" What's the rush?" Hibiki asked.

" Code A23," Takase replied.

Hibiki and Makoto looked at each other nervously. Code A23 was short form for needing to get vital information to headquarters, at any cost. Makoto took the small slip of paper from Takase and unrolled it, quickly 'reading' the slip, not before snapping his fingers, reducing the small slip into minute shreds.

" Send word that we will reach there in 25 minutes," Makoto replied. Takase waved both his front feet to indicate he got the message, and then proceeded to disappear in a puff of smoke. Makoto turned around to start leaving " Come on, we got a rendezvous to make."

" You didn't even let me see the coordinates, you ass!" Hibiki shouted at him.

" I'm surprised that a bunch of genins managed to steal something this valuable," Makoto off-handed commented as both he and Hibiki were travelling quickly on the ground, swerving past trees that stood in their way.

" Genins?" Hibiki asked. " Well, we are always short-handed on people, so I guess we make use of whatever we can. I guess they must be some infiltration specialist group or something. But I am worried of another thing."

" Worried about what?"

" That this might be another false alarm?" Hibiki replied.

" Maybe, but I have a hunch that this might not be," Makoto answered.

" A hunch? That's it?"

" Also, the enemy border seems to be heavy with activity now, almost as if the entire stretch is mobilizing for some reason. I can hardly think that this is a coincidence. I think having this data stolen has gotten them active. They want it back," Makoto replied. " This may be a bit more serious that I could hope for. I managed to sense some of the surrounding enemy patrol units in the area. For some reason, they seem to be converging on the area near where Suzumi had indicated."

" You think they caught on?" Hibiki asked.

" Quite possibly," Makoto replied, not before pausing. Hibiki knew him well enough to know that Makoto was somehow sensing something which Hibiki's ears couldn't pick up. Even despite knowing him for so long, Hibiki was still always impressed by his best friend's auditory skills. " This is odd."

" What is?"

" I'm picking up movement up ahead," Makoto replied.

" …Towards Suzumi?"

" No, but towards our rendezvous area," Makoto replied.

" …Are they going to set an ambush?" Hibiki asked.

" Most likely," Makoto replied.

" Tch, how's they managed to figure out our rendezvous point?" Hibiki spat.

" Looks like Takase got intercepted when he tried to find us," Makoto replied. " I cannot think of any other explanation."

" How?" Hibiki asked. Makoto gave him a puzzled look, so Hibiki continued to explain. " I mean, Takase is super sensitive to chakra, so it will be almost impossible for anyone to use ninjutsu or barriers to catch him. You can only do it physically, and he didn't have a scratch on him, so obviously he came here unscathed. That's the reason why Suzumi uses him to pass messages. I haven't heard of the last time he actually got intercepted, unless he was physically caught and was actively being prevented from passing the message."

" Still, it doesn't change the fact that there is a group currently heading towards our rendezvous point, almost as if they were singularly charging towards the place. Keep up, we need to get there and handle them before Suzumi and the genins reach there," Makoto replied.

Hibiki and Makoto hastened their movement speed, rushing towards the designated spot. 5 minutes later, they reached a spot in the forest where there was a small stream trickling through the middle. Both of them halted their movements, keeping their presence quiet as they waited for their supposed ambushers to come.

" Shit…" Makoto whispered.

" What?" Hibiki asked. He could sense the nervousness behind his friend's voice, so something bad was happening.

" They just stopped right in front of us, not coming into the rendezvous point, almost as if they somehow managed to sense us," Makoto replied.

" A sensor shinobi? Whoever he or she is, they must be good," Hibiki replied.

All of a sudden, there was a sharp shrilling noise, almost like an animal shrieking in death. Hibiki was confused by the noise, but he noticed Makoto was wincing slightly, almost as if it was hurting his ears.

" …A sound grenade?!" Makoto exclaimed. " They somehow managed to figure out I specialize in sound abilities. That sound grenade was specifically used to hinder my abilities."

Hibiki heard the sound of approaching people, two in fact. He quickly quickly pulled out Hime from his back and jumped out from his hiding spot, ready to throw it towards the first thing he saw. A figure landed right in front of him, and Hibiki pulled his arm back, only to pause slightly when he caught sight of the figure.

" Huh? Ryouta?" he mused when he saw Ryouta in front of him, his Immortal Phoenix already activated, having a bewildered look on his face similar to his.

Someone else slammed into his back, grabbing his free arm and twisting it behind his back, not before slamming him against the trunk of a tree, but Hibiki knew who it was. If Ryouta was here, that means…

" Knock it off, it's me. Can't you recognize my face fast enough before you attack?" Hibiki groaned as he was being pinned on the tree.

" Oh, I could recognize you alright, I'm just doing this for the kicks," Sora replied, grinning madly as she held Hibiki in place. With a burst of strength, Hibiki pushed her off his back, shaking his hand free. " Bwahaha, you should have seen the look on your face."

" You guys are here?" Ryouta asked. " I thought you were pursuers or something who managed to figure out our rendezvous point."

" We figured the same thing. I thought you two were in a different area, so it wouldn't make any sense that Suzumi would call you two," Makoto replied.

" Looks like whatever she managed to get her hands on was enough to warrant calling us all together. Takase reached us some time ago, so we managed to get a bit of a headstart first. I apologise for attacking you like that. I thought that since Suzumi called for us, it meant she wanted all of us together, and since you two were closer to her area, I thought you would be already with her," Ryouta explained. " I thought that someone with good hearing skills was tracking us, so I released the sound grenade earlier. One of Hiroshi's prototypes."

" Tell him it works too well," Makoto replied, rubbing his ears. " He's not with you?"

" He still has his current mission to attend to, so no," Sora replied. " But we will need to fetch him."

" Why?" Hibiki asked. " If he is still currently on 'that' mission, then he would be close towards enemy territory. Shouldn't we be getting this information out, away from the enemy?"

" Because, from what small information we gathered, whatever Suzumi got is encoded, so they cannot read it. The only one capable of cracking code of this level is going to be Hiroshi. If we request one to come from headquarters, it might take 3 days to get here. Hiroshi is going to head off into enemy territory to do some espionage work once he is done with his current mission, so we need to get him to decode him before he leaves," Sora answered.

" Wait, they actually don't know what's on the information they stole?" Hibiki asked.

" Of course not. If they could decode it that easily, we won't need to fetch Hiroshi," Sora answered.

" What I meant is that we have no idea whether this information we stole is important or not," Hibiki replied. " Are we sure this is not a false alarm?"

" This is the second time you are mentioning this," Makoto noted.

" Enemy activity is too heated up for this to be a coincidence. I don't think that our enemies would want to mobilise their forces to this extent where they can mess up their positioning and allow us to gain a foothold in their lands. To risk losing their fortresses and strongholds for a mere ruse of false information is not a fair trade. I am willing to bet whatever that is on that scroll is worth it," Ryouta explained.

" Alright, you have me convinced. I won't bring this up again," Hibiki replied.

" Are you sure?" Sora asked sarcastically.

" Shut up," Hibiki snapped, not before noticing something. " …What's that?"

Ryouta noticed that Hibiki was referring to a small star-shaped symbol that was sewed onto his combat vest on his top right side. " Oh, this? Well, something Airi put on for me, for good luck," Ryouta answered. All three guys started smiling, Hibiki and Makoto doing it mischievously, while Sora merely rolled her eyes.

" You don't need luck when you have so much skill like me," Sora replied.

" Says the luckiest bitch I know alive," Hibiki snorted.

" What the hell was that supposed to mean?" Sora asked.

" Actually, that's true. Hiroshi has told me that you have taken so much injury and damage that you would normally be dead 20 times over. I lost count on how many close calls I had, probably quite a few, and no doubt a couple of times coming close to dying, but not to the level you go through," Ryouta replied.

" I'm a tough gal," Sora replied proudly, thumbing her chest.

" Actually, being tough doesn't explain how you can survive multiple operations with a 50% chance that you might die," Ryouta replied. " You are the luckiest in our group, there is no doubt about it. You might outlive us all."

" …Are you trying to kill me?" Sora asked.

" …Why do you suggest that?" Ryouta asked, raising an eyebrow.

" Because saying shit like that is like raising a fucking death flag. I'd rather not have too many around," Sora replied, scowling.

" Relax, everybody hates you, even the God of Death, so it's no wonder you cannot die," Hibiki replied.

" I'll kill you first if you don't shut up!" Sora snarled.

" Everyone, looks like you all made it," Suzumi's voice called out to them.

All of them turned around to see Suzumi arrive from a distance, jumping off one of the branches of the trees, landing perfectly. As she mentioned, three genins were following her, keeping close to her as she headed towards them.

" Guys, I'd like you to meet Haruto, Yoshihiko, and Saya, the team I was talking about. My Sand teammates are Hibiki and Makoto, while the two Leaf-nins are Sora and Ryouta," Suzumi replied, giving a quick introduction to everyone.

Haruto looked around a little, not before saying " The Azure Forest isn't here?"

" Hmm?" Sora mused, raising an eyebrow.

" The Azure Forest, Suzuki Hiroshi, is part of your team, correct? He won't be joining us?" Haruto asked.

" That's not it, we need to go pick him up," Hibiki explained.

Ryouta noticed that Haruto was busy appraising them, while his two other teammates were slightly nervous to be placed within the bunch of jounins, elite jounins no less. Suzumi probably didn't have to introduce them, since even though they were Grass-nins, all of them were famous enough to be known by sight.

" Do you have a copy of the info you stole?" Ryouta asked.

Haruto dug into his pocket to take out a piece of folded paper. Opening it up, Ryouta saw a detailed map drawn out, with tons of random words all over the place, no doubt encoded like Suzumi mentioned. He noticed that the map as recently drawn, and seeing his reaction, Haruto raised his finger and tapped Saya's head gently. " The original copy is inside here," he replied.

" I see," Ryouta replied, folding the map back. " Well, I obviously cannot read it. We definitely need to find Hiroshi to crack this one. Guess we will be reuniting the gang again."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: First Contact**

A lone shinobi was observing his surroundings. He was stationed at a small fortress between the border between the Light village country and another neutral country. Light shinobis were currently occupying the fortress, which has been a forward base of operations for their engagements into enemy territory, and the shinobi was keeping an eye out for a potential sneak attack on their base.

He found himself sweating profoundly, and he quickly wiped his sweat off his brow. He had every reason to be anxious. For the last couple of days, the fortress has been under attack from enemy forces. While it was to be expected, as the Leaf and Sand-nins would want to make them lose their stronghold in this area, he was more worried about the person who has been left in-charge of laying siege and taking over the fortress. They were up against one man, and he was known as the Azure Forest of Konoha.

He had arrived alone, and proceeded to occasionally lay siege to the fortress. They already had numerous wounded and killed, with the fortresses personal down to less than half the original capacity. He had managed to destroy their supplies and equipment, along with disabling any of their traps they had set up. The shinobi had heard stories of the Azure Forest, but he could hardly imagine such a person being capable of taking on a fighting force of 30 shinobis in a fortified position, and still continue to come out on top.

The Azure Forest had been attacking occasionally, striking when he felt like it. Over the last two days the fortress has been assaulted for more than 8 times, and their forces came no closer to stalling his attacks. While they had sent for reinforcements, as losing the fortress would detrimental to their push forward, it would take some time for reinforcements to arrive. The Azure Forest probably realizes this as well, as his assaults started to become more and more frequent now.

" How's it looking?" a voice asked. The shinobi turned around to see a female kunoichi enter the lookout area. She had bandages covering her arms and her forehead, having gotten injured during the Azure Forest's previous attack, but she had apparently recovered enough to start moving about.

" Quiet for now, but it isn't going to last. Right now, he's probably gearing up to attack again," the shinobi answered.

" Reinforcements should arrive sometime today. If we are lucky, we will be able to hold him off when they arrive," the kunoichi replied optimistically. " Go get some rest, I'll cover for you."

" Thanks," the shinobi replied as he switched places with the kunoichi.

As he was about to leave the lookout area, a sudden explosion occurred right behind him. The shock of the blast threw him off his feet, sending him hurtling towards the wall. As he tried to pick himself up, he saw his companion half-buried in rubble, injured but still alive, the wall behind her completely destroyed, exposing the room to the exterior outside.

From the new opening, a dark silhouette started to climb up, standing before the shinobi. There was nothing overly impressive about the shinobi before him, but the person standing right before him seemed to exudate some form of cunning and danger, despite not being overbearing or large in size. The shinobi wasn't too sure whether he was hallucinating or being affected by genjutsu, since the person's eyes seemed to be glowing red.

" …T-the A-azure Forest?" The shinobi whimpered.

" Indeed," a voice whispered coldly, as the figure walked forward, extending his arm to grab the shinobi's face.

* * *

" What's the status report?" a kunoichi barked.

" The Azure Forest has made it into the fortress, and he is picking our forces apart. We have lost contact with everyone from level 1 and 2, and he is quickly making his way here to the command centre," a young shinobi responded.

The kunoichi clicked her tongue in annoyance, almost angry at herself for asking an obvious question. From the sounds of combat, explosions and screams of her men, it was obvious what was happening. The attack had barely begun 3 minutes ago, and it looked like the Azure Forest somehow managed to make his way into the interior of the fortress.

" Commander, what do we do?" another shinobi asked, slightly too panicked to think.

" Get as many people as we can into the command room. The walls are fortified and there is only one entrance. If he breaks through here, then we need to make our stand," the female kunoichi answered.

Her men moved as ordered, getting out and bringing as many of their comrades into the command room. The kunoichi made a quick count of the amount of people in the room. There were 13 people, including herself, but at least 8 of them were chuunins and 2 genins. While she knew she was capable herself, she personally felt that the Azure Forest could easily take all of them on. Still, she didn't want to just allow the Azure Forest to take over so easily.

" Seal the doors!" she ordered. A couple of shinobis prepared their Earth ninjutsu, using the rocks around the surrounding area to cover and seal the door. The sounds of combat were muffled, but they could still be heard raging on outside.

" Riku," the kunoichi barked to the young shinobi she spoke to earlier. He turned to her, only to see her toss a small device towards him. Catching it in his hand, he noticed it was a detonator. " If we don't win this fight, and it is unlikely that we will, there is enough explosives lined throughout the entire room to bury the entire fortress over the Azure Forest. If we cannot take him down, at least we will take him with us!"

" Commander!"

" Don't argue with me, Riku. Do as you are told," the kunoichi snapped back.

" …Yes, ma'am," Riku answered quietly.

There was a sudden jolt, as something powerful crashed into the door which they recently sealed. All the shinobis in the room braced themselves as another jolt hit the door, the seams of the door cracking slightly. Even with the new earth fortifications, the joints were slowly breaking by the seams, and after a couple more hits, the door broke down with a crash, kicking up dust all over the place.

The kunoichi slowly reached for her kunai as the Azure Forest entered the command room calmly, merely quietly glancing at his targets. He was fairly small, barely standing at about 5 and a half feet tall, barely looking like someone who was dangerous, but looks could be deceiving. He looked of an average height and size, and he had messy looking black hair. He looked very unremarkable, except that his eyes were glaringly cold, almost as if she was looking at a person devoid of a soul. However, she noted that he had odd coloured eyes, one coloured a natural brown on his right, while his left eye was bright blue.

" Eye transplant, this isn't my original eye," The Azure Forest spoke up quietly, almost in a haunting manner, pointing to his eye, as if somehow figuring out what she was thinking. " Ito, am I right?"

" That's right. What do you want, Azure Forest?" Ito asked.

" Nothing much," The Azure Forest replied, taking a few steps forward. " I'm just here to do my job."

" We won't give up this place easily," Ito declared.

" Is that so? Riku, toss me the detonator," The Azure Forest replied.

To Ito's horror, Riku got up from his position and tosses the detonator she handed to him moments ago to the Azure Forest, who caught it. Not only that, the Azure Forest pressed the button on the detonator, but nothing happened, just the quiet silence of the bizarre situation presented before her.

" What in the…?"

" I was aware of your explosives, so I had them disabled before I entered the room," The Azure Forest replied.

" That's impossible! You just arrived here! There is no way you could have disabled or removed all the explosives in such a short period!" Ito shouted at him.

" …What makes you think there are explosives set inside in the first place?" the Azure Forest asked.

Ito was about to respond when she saw Riku reach up to his face with his hand and pull his face off. Her expression was one of mixed with horror and shock when the emotionless face of a humanoid puppet. She felt her heart sink when one by one, all the people in the room slowly started to remove their disguised, revealing that every single one of them was a puppet.

" …You…you replaced my men with puppets," Ito replied quietly. " How's this possible? Are they remote controlled?"

" Don't be silly. I can make puppets move using my chakra, but unless I am directly attached to them using my chakra strings, they won't last for more than 20 minutes," The Azure Forest. " I came along with your entire battalion when you took over this fortress as one of your men. Once I have removed or replaced enough of your men, I started my 'attack'."

Ito dropped her hands dejectedly, her kunai which she had been holding earlier clattering onto the floor. The Azure Forest had her completely out-maneuvered, and he had managed to single-handedly take down an entire battalion of shinobi forces by himself. She knew it was useless, but she decided to ask anyway.

" I…suppose that our request for…reinforcements didn't get sent?" Ito asked, almost not wanting to hear his response. She only felt a sensation of dread and despair when she saw the Azure Forest take out a small scroll, the same scroll she instructed to be sent to their headquarters to request for reinforcements.

The Azure Forest charged at her in an instant, and perhaps due to the prospect of being utterly destroyed by him, Ito offered no resistance as he grabbed her by her neck and slammed her onto the wall. Despite his looks, he had some form of surprising strength, especially coming from a guy of his size. He raised his free hand, and out from his puppet compartment on his arm, he brought out a long, sharp blade.

" Taking this fortress down was my secondary objective. My primary one is to take you out. I promise I will make this painless," The Azure Forest replied, not before sinking the blade into Ito's chest, piercing her heart.

* * *

Hiroshi quietly exited the fortress. All the enemy forces have been taken care off, so the entire place was silent. He had taken out the entire battalion stationed here, and the place smelt of death. Hiroshi merely glanced around the surrounding area, not before taking out a canteen bottle and emptying the water over his hand, trying to wash off the blood on his hand. Before the water ran out, he took a sip from the canteen, not before spitting the water out from his mouth.

" …Tch, tastes like blood," he quietly muttered to himself.

He suddenly felt an odd tingling sensation, and he realized that someone, or something, had passed his barriers which he set around his perimeter. Thinking it was odd that someone would head this way, Hiroshi took out an eyepatch and covered his left eye with it, not before waiting for whoever it was to arrive.

It didn't take long, and Hiroshi was surprised to see 8 people arrive all at once, and this included his own teammates along with their Sand companions. He was under the impression that all of them were handling separate tasks, and it was certainly strange to see all of them gathered her. From the looks of it, it seems that they all had come here to specifically find him.

" What's up? Looks like you have things finished over here," Sora replied.

Hiroshi merely nodded his head. Sora still looked as feisty as ever. Sora's prerogative was to only fight with her fists, so she barely brought any equipment along. She wore a light sleeveless T-shirt and short jeans, along with her weapon pack which she strapped onto her upper left arm instead of the usual spot on a shinobi's leg. Both her legs and arms were wrapped in protective bandages, specially made by Hiroshi to dampen the sonic attacks she always use, which were harmful to her in the long run.

Ryouta gave a smile to him, and Hiroshi could only smile back. He was still the only one who wore the standard Leaf shinobi vest, so he would look more like a standard shinobi of the Leaf, unlike Hiroshi or Sora. While he still looked sharp and smart, Hiroshi could see the war was taking a toll on him somewhat. His face looked a little tired, and there were slight dark circles under his eyes. While the rest of their companions probably didn't know it yet since it was hidden under all the layers of clothing he was wearing, but Ryouta had a lot of bandages covering his wounds underneath his uniform, and the only reason Hiroshi knew of this despite Ryouta hiding it from the rest of the team was because he treated him for his injuries.

" I have. I'm surprised you all made it here. Is there something afoot?" Hiroshi asked. This was certainly peculiar. Ryouta and Sora were supposed to be stationed elsewhere, and so where his Sand companions. While he was somewhat comforted to see familiar faces, there was probably some reason that they were here.

" You could say that. We need your help on something," Hibiki replied.

Hiroshi could not believe it would actually be possible, but it looked like Hibiki had somehow managed to get more scars all over his body, but since it was rarely him treating him for his injuries, he wouldn't know about what injuries Hibiki sustained to receive them. He stood at least 6 feet tall, almost towering over the rest of them by at least half a foot. Hiroshi could observe the hard outline of his muscles all over his body, which was rather fascinating to see. In a match of pure strength with no enhancements, Hibiki was stronger than Sora in terms of raw strength.

Makoto still looked relatively the same. Hiroshi was expecting with the war going on and having being married for 5 years now would change him, but he still looked just like the Makoto he met all those years ago, just older and taller now. Makoto had a couple of twins which he had seen a few times, and currently Mayuri is heavily pregnant so she was sitting out of the war.

" These Grass-nins managed to find something important. It is unfortunately heavily coded, so we decided to come to you first to let you see if you can decipher it before we head back to our base to get it checked," Suzumi replied.

Hiroshi turned to Suzumi. As she mentioned last time, with her Aya personality involved in her bloodline ability, Suzumi had gotten tinted goggles for combat so that she could hide her ability from other people. She had left her hair loose this time, tying it up in a ponytail so that it won't hinder her fighting capabilities and combat. Hiroshi wasn't too sure, but she looked fairer this time around, which is kind of surprising considering she lives in a desert village, and he wondered if Suzumi was somehow doing something to keep herself this way.

" What did they get?" Hiroshi asked.

Suzumi walked over and held the scroll out to him. He quietly took it and started to read it right away, without doing anything else. Hiroshi was either playing dumb or trying to ignore it, but the disappointment on Suzumi's face was obvious.

Ryouta sighed quietly to himself. Maya was right: Hiroshi had changed. He had spent three years under the 'care' of the Steel-nins, who had forced him to take on dangerous missions, risking his life for them. About two years back, before the advent of the war between their villages and the Void and Light village, the Steel-nins decided to return him to their village, on the account of 'good faith', but it was merely a pretext of them using Hiroshi as a small token to let the Leaf know where the Steel-nins are standing. Maya was right on her mark on them returning Hiroshi.

Hiroshi had been through a lot. Besides taking on missions, Hiroshi had suffered a multitude of injuries, either on the field, or through torture from the Steel-nins. When they got him back, he was in a complete wreck, due to the fact that the Steel-nins didn't properly treat all his injuries. It took him almost a year of intensive treatment to get him back to his feet.

Suzumi was almost overjoyed at the news of Hiroshi's return. While most of them had accepted the fact that they might not see Hiroshi ever again, Suzumi didn't give up on that. She had stubbornly refused to move on from that day he was taken, despite Hiroshi trying to hurt her until she gave up. Upon hearing that he had returned, she instantly rushed to greet him, only to see that she wasn't reciprocating her.

While he was happy to see her, Ryouta felt that he was keeping his distance for some reason, as if he didn't want their relationship to continue. He wasn't sure what he experienced during the three years to make him change in such a fashion, but perhaps he had been broken down by all the violence and torture he had to endure. Suzumi didn't press the issue, perhaps too afraid that he might admit that he wanted to end their relationship after such a long time. Then the war came, and regardless of the outcome, it was somewhat of a distraction to their relationship problems, for now, so everything about it has been put on hold.

Even when the rest of them tried to press the issue, Hiroshi would only glare at them angrily and coldly, and ignore them whenever they tried. Ryouta figured that there was something eating Hiroshi. He was no longer the emotional, sensitive person he once was, replaced by this slightly soulless, empty person, almost as if he had become mechanical like the puppets he used. There was a lot of pain and sadness within him, and it changed him.

" This map looks like it was hand drawn. Who made this?" Hiroshi asked.

" Urm…I did," the female Grass-nin answered.

" These are the Grass-nins I mentioned. This is Haruto, Yoshihiko and Saya," Suzumi introduced them to Hiroshi.

Hiroshi did a quick appraisal of them. Saya looked very quiet and timid, although Hiroshi observed that she was probably rather smart and intelligent, as well as being observant. Her eyes were scanning the area, observing both her surroundings and the other shinobis present. She had a small, rather weak figure, so she was most certainly not suitable for combat, or at the very least not melee orientated. Yoshihiko looked fairly nervous, as if he was the type was would be easily startled. His frame was light, and he didn't particularly look very tough, but Hiroshi suspected he was probably fairly good in ninjutsu.

Haruto was almost completely different in comparison. He had this cool, cold expression, as if he was already hardened by all the violence of the war. Hiroshi noted that from the way he carried himself, he looked like a speedy type, probably using agility as his asset. He also observed that he had a short shinobi blade sheathed behind his back, and from the looks of it, it seems like he was proficient with the weapon.

" …You…" Hiroshi started.

" …studied under Kira," Haruto finished his sentence for him. Hiroshi merely nodded his head, acknowledging him.

" Oh, that crummy mute is still alive? How's he doing?" Sora asked.

" He's doing fine," Haruto answered quietly. Ryouta thought he observed Haruto flash a look of annoyance at Sora for addressing his sensei so crudely, but he apparently let it slide.

" So, what do you make of it, Hiroshi?" Makoto asked.

" Give me a minute," Hiroshi replied. The rest of them waited patiently while Hiroshi analyzed the map quietly. It took him a while, but Ryouta could see realization dawn on Hiroshi's face has he slowly realized what he was looking at. He took a deep breath, not before rolling up the map in his hands. " You said you drew a copy of this map?" Hiroshi asked.

" Yeah, I did," Saya answered.

" So you still have a copy in your head," Hiroshi confirmed.

" Yes, I do," Saya replied.

" Good, I'll keep this copy then," Hiroshi responded, slipping the map he rolled up into his pocket. " Guys, what these genins found are exact deployment ratios and numbers for the enemy forces all along our engagement borders, exact number of weapons and supplies, along with exact description for assault and defensive maneuvers in which they will carry out."

" Holy shit! This information…"

" Needs to reach HQ, as soon as possible," Hiroshi answered.

" If we actually have their deployment details, this only means we managed to figure out when they are going to attack. So, all they have to do is pull back and change the plan. Why aren't they doing that?" Hibiki asked. " Are they putting too much effort in trying to get back this from enemy hands?"

" This is more than that, Hibiki. Hiroshi mentioned that the map gives details on where they have stored their equipment and how much of it, along with the number of shinobis they have. This information can give us very valuable power," Ryouta replied.

" How so?" Hibiki asked.

" Let's say our enemy has 100 shinobis guarding an area. If we know that they allocated 50 shinobis to the southern region, and we decide to attack the northern region of that area…" Makoto explained.

" …We know for sure that even if they engage us, they will only have 50, or less, people to do so," Hibiki replied.

" Exactly. Also, shinobis use a certain amount of rations and equipment. The number will tell us how many can be deployed there, allowing us to gauge their numbers. It also takes some time to move shinobi around, so with a bit of calculation, we can guess roughly where they are deployed, and in what numbers," Ryouta answered.

" How'd did you get this, by the way?" Hiroshi asked.

" Our team focuses on infiltration and espionage missions. We were scouting out one of the main enemy camps when we caught wind of one of their strategists coming up with details on the map for a large scale assault. When the map was unguarded, we attempted to sneak it. Saya made a copy of it by memorizing it in her brain, and we destroyed the original copy, along with making sure that they could not produce a second one," Haruto answered.

" Second copy?" Sora asked.

" Whatever we found was also top secret, as the Void-nins didn't want the plan to be leaked out so soon, so save a few of the top officials, very few people know about the plan, and the one who drew that map was the only person who knows of the content of the map," Yoshihiko replied.

" Was?"

" I assassinated the strategist the moment he completed the map. No one else from the Void or Light village knows about it," Haruto responded.

" …This kid is good," Sora replied, sounding impressed.

" Alright, the closest base is about 1 hour from here. I suggest we head there, get some supplies and rest, before making headway towards our closest operating base in the southern side. That's at Kimu, near the neutral country border. The faster HQ gets it, the better," Ryouta replied. " Can you tag along, Hiroshi?"

" This mission takes priority. My other mission can wait. I'll come," Hiroshi answered.


End file.
